Topic 'Television without a STB?' in forum 'Time Warner Cable - Legacy ' - dslreports.com

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 15:22:05 EDT

bfollowell3 posted : Yeah, but what you and xnappo seem to have missed is how I mentioned that these televisions would so rarely be used. It's really hard to justify spending $89 for another Roku for each TV that will sit unused for months on end. At $1 a month for a DTA it would take years and years to pay back. Not really a smart move in my book. If I was just going to throw money away like that I'd just get Tivo Minis for every TV and be able to watch recorded content as well.

No, El_Borracho is in my area and is saying that our local network is currently incompatible with DTAs and that Clear QAM is still available so just hooking up to the cable and getting what I can for free for as long as I can seems like a much wiser decision.

Thanks to everyone for your information and suggestions though, even if I'm not going to act on everyone's advice, I still appreciate you taking the time to post.

- Byron

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:37:54 EDT

hchen42 posted : I second xnappo. Get a Roku box and you can pretty much watch all the TWC Standard channels. BTW, the quality might not be as good, but it's good enough.

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:35:12 EDT

Watson posted :

said by Phroz:

Wait, so you guys are all digital but you get the channels via Clear QAM?

Exactly. Starter TV and Standard TV are all-digital via ClearQAM with several channels in HD. Other packages require a set-top box.

I hope TWC doesn't break what Insight had done correctly.

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 13:43:35 EDT

Phroz posted :

said by Watson:

Wait, so you guys are all digital but you get the channels via Clear QAM?

My market is all digital as well, but completely encrypted. We also don't have HD DTAs... so you either have to watch a crappy SD picture or rent an HD box.

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 11:50:42 EDT

Watson posted :

said by maartena:

Yes, eventually the analog portion of cable television will disappear and will be replaced by a digital-only service, for which a digital tuning adapter is needed.

Just for information's sake, the Evansville market (formerly Insight Communications) has been all-digital for a few years. We continue to enjoy what TWC refers to as "boxless digital television." Even the Starter TV package includes not just local HD channels, but also TBS, WGN, Discovery and maybe a couple of other channels in HD. With the Standard package, all 70+ channels are at least digital. There are no analog channels available.

Our market is different from other TWC areas, and as such, national tech support is often useless for television matters specific to our area. I would suggest the OP visit the local office as it is the only place I've gotten reliable information to our unique situation.

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 11:30:13 EDT

maartena posted : Before you do anything:

Yes, eventually the analog portion of cable television will disappear and will be replaced by a digital-only service, for which a digital tuning adapter is needed. It is already happening in the Los Angeles market.... and most

However, there is no telling whether it will happen in the Evansville, IN market, and whether it will happen at all. It is up to the local TWC outlet. Could be next month. Could be in 3 years. Could be in 5 years.... who knows.

So before you go spending money on DTA's and whatnot, have TWC just hook them up on a cable outlet, and enjoy analog television in those rooms for as long as you can, and just wait to see what TWC does.

Could be years before your market decides to do it, and there is no telling when.
--
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!"

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 10:06:06 EDT

Watson posted : HD DTAs are not available in the Evansville market; only digital-to-analog converters are available. This was discovered after national tech support directed me to pick up the HD version at the office on Fares Avenue.

I had a tech visit at home for a TV issue a few weeks ago, and at least according to him, the system in Evansville and outlying areas is not compatible with the HD DTAs.

Unless they make a major system change in our market to allow the HD DTAs, my guess is that we will remain boxless for some time. Of course, this only speculation based on my recent experience.

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 08:49:18 EDT

xnappo posted : I would just buy some Roku boxes for those rooms. The TWC Roku app is pretty good.

xnappo

Re: Television without a STB?

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 03:53:05 EDT

bfollowell3 posted : I guess I'll wind up looking into a few of the DTAs. I'd heard that term before but didn't really know what it was so I did a little research. TWC is only charging $0.99 a month for each one. I see from the previous post that they may even be free for a while. I know there are broadcast fees of something less than $3 a month but I mistakenly thought that was for each connection rather than once per billing cycle, so I could add five DTAs for my lesser used TVs for $5 a month. I guess that isn't too bad.

- Byron

Re: Television without a STB?

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:40:59 EDT

spdickey posted : You can find a FAQ about set top boxes and TWC at »www.timewarnercable.com/ ··· oxe.html

Plan on someday having to get at least a small DTA for your spare room TVs like we here in Los Angeles did over the last summer. Its not a deal breaker for me, its free until 2016 and I'm able to watch much more than I could when we used to have some clear QAM channels. I also use a TiVo with a cable card, and have two DTAs for the other sets, both HD digital sets with HDMI ports. And one old analog TV now sits unused.

Re: Television without a STB?

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:11:01 EDT

hobgoblin posted :

said by bfollowell3:

Has anyone heard when this may actually take place?

I don't believe anyone can answer this question. Its almost certainly going to happen as it has in some areas, when is a totally unknown quantity.

Hob
--
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Television without a STB?

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 22:39:01 EDT

bfollowell3 posted : Does anyone know when or if TWC will eventually do away with all boxless television access? My wife and I are about to move into our newly constructed home. We're going to have a Tivo in our great room and and a Tivo Mini in our master bedroom. We're empty nesters and those are the two main areas that we will be watching television and recorded shows. We're also going to have televisions in each of our two guest bedrooms, our bonus room, the kitchen and the the master bath. These additional areas are really low use areas though and we're fine with just basic cable using our televisions' built-in digital tuners. I've heard though that TWC, and many providers for that matter, plan to do away with all boxless channel access.

Has anyone heard when this may actually take place?

Thanks.

- Byron